Showing posts with label Feminism History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Feminism History. Show all posts

Feminist Coalition Across The World.




A number of feminist thinkers from across the world discuss the potential for cross-border and international alliances among feminists. 




In the fight against sex trafficking and rape of women in war circumstances, global feminist alliances have already formed. 



Additional kinds of global solidarity among women provide not only potential coalition-building opportunities, but also insightful theoretical assessments of global issues. 

Global feminist alliances need agreement on a political objective but not on a common identity or experience. 




The aim is to bring women together via a common commitment while yet preserving the individuality of each member of the coalition. 


  • The demand for sisterhood or solidarity in second wave feminism conflicts with this call for political solidarity. 
  • To root sisterhood among women, second wave feminism sought for common experiences of oppression or identity. 

Global feminists speak of a shared political commitment, or, as Chandra Talpade Mohanty puts it, a "common framework of struggle." Global feminist coalitions may benefit from the combined experience of all members in this manner. 




Transnational or global feminist alliances are often established across borders or despite linguistic difficulties. 



Coalitions may face challenges or impediments due to cultural norms and national political systems. 

Because their government is blameworthy for the agony and suffering of the women and men in that other nation, sympathetic feminists in one country may find their involvement in a cause in another country unwelcome. 

Perhaps their efforts should be focused toward opposing their own regime before forming alliances and coalitions with activists in other countries. 




Women in the United States, for example, could band up with women in Sudan or the Congo to oppose mass rape campaigns. 



Each member of the coalition contributes to the cause with her own set of skills and abilities. 

All of these initiatives come together to form a worldwide feminist political movement. 

Importantly, in order to build a genuine coalition - transnational or global solidarity – actual efforts must be taken to listen to and learn about those with whom one shares solidarity. 




Cultures and histories are also important. 



We should attempt to inquire about the numerous cultural norms that guide our varied responses to a problem as part of our listening. 

As a result, we strive to avoid replicating coercive or dominating relationships in our contacts across borders and across the world. 

From an epistemological standpoint, commitments to global feminist activity may necessitate what Maria Lugones refers to as "world" traveling. 



Traveling across the world is a metaphor for understanding. 



When you travel the globe physically, you have to alter the way you think and behave. 

Because it exposes the traveler to different ideas and views, real travel frequently offers up new ways of viewing things. 

Similarly, epistemological ‘world-traveling' requires us to view people from their perspective rather than our own. 

We are urged to attempt to comprehend a person as he or she comprehends himself. 

This kind of 'world' travel requires empathy and genuine attempts at friendship. 




In terms of morality, a commitment to global feminist action implies that interpersonal relationships and everyday choices are examined for their global consequences. 



What is ethically decent is not just what would result in the greatest outcomes for oneself and those in one's immediate circle of contacts. 

Instead, the repercussions of our acts are assessed worldwide, and our responsibilities are also expanded globally. 

Reciprocal agency is another essential moral component of global feminist commitment. 





Canadian, American, and European feminists are not the only ones with agency or who contribute to feminist thought. 




Women and men from the Third World, often known as the two-thirds world, have moral agency – the capacity to act in their own and others' best interests – and have a lot to say about global feminist thought. 

One of the most fascinating aspects of transnational and global feminist coalitions is that they demonstrate how feminists from many schools of thought and methods can work together to achieve major social change for the freedom of all women, men, and children. 

Individuals are also changed as a result of the process. 

These are some of feminist theory's main objectives. 


Global feminism, like third wave feminism, demonstrates that feminism is not only a female problem.


~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan

You may also want to read more about Feminism and Activism here.




War Rape And Violent Crimes Against Women








The emphasis of international law has traditionally been on inter-state conflict, but violence against women in war circumstances has only lately been addressed. 




Despite the fact that Hugo Grotius, the founder of international law, specifically mentions rape in his study of war, women have long been considered part of the spoils of war. 




That viewpoint is still prevalent in many areas of the globe. 

Women are often subjected to unjustified attacks during war circumstances, especially when they are not regarded simple property to be traded between defeated and victor. 


The United Nations has been compelled to confront violence against women in war circumstances as a result of recent initiatives by global feminist campaigners. 

The Beijing Platform for Action has had a significant impact on the international community's efforts to avoid violence against women in conflict. 


Furthermore, feminist theorists argue that women's bodies have become the battlefield in conflict, that rape and forced pregnancy employed in genocidal campaigns are aspects of genocide, and that rape adds layers of difficulties to the postwar healing process. 




Rape in battle typically involves non-combatants from the opposing side, although rape among military members is also a problem in combat circumstances. 





Despite the fact that both international law and most military rules of conduct ban targeting noncombatants, rape was and continues to be ignored. 

Rape, for example, was seen as an unwelcome but unavoidable aspect of military operations during World War II. 

This mentality is only the top of the iceberg, as bad as it is. 




Rape is frequently utilized in a systematic way as part of military strategy during wartime. 






Human rights groups in the former Yugoslavia, for example, documented at least five distinct ways that rape was utilized as part of the war effort. 

Rape was first utilized to terrorize and intimidate a population prior to the military assault. 

The Serbs then used rape as part of their assault and conquest tactics against a town or area. 

Women were raped or taken prisoner for use in rape camps; males were raped or taken prisoner for use in rape camps. 

Rape camps were facilities that were taken over solely for the purpose of sheltering women who had been raped on a regular basis for months. 



The rape camps also had a further purpose. 





Because the Serbs thought that a kid inherited his or her father's ethnicity, the rape camps were also used to forcefully impregnate women and force them to carry the child to term. 

Rape and forced pregnancy were therefore used as weapons in the ethnic cleansing effort. 

Fourth, in detention and refugee facilities, rape was committed solely for the purpose of rape. 

Finally, some women were imprisoned in so-called "bordello" camps, where they were mercilessly raped until they died. 

However, these acts of rape are not limited to the former Yugoslavia. 




Every war scenario include rape and other kinds of sexual assault, with women being the primary victims. 



Men's bodies, on the other hand, are used as weapons in battle. 

Men refer to their penises as extensions of or interchangeable with their weapons, according to several anecdotal reports from victims of war rape. 


This dubious and disturbing conflation of penises and weapons is even reflected in a military marching chant: 


‘This is my weapon, this is my rifle.' I fire bullets with this, and I have a good time with it.' 


We saw two significant genocide operations in the early 1990s, both of which utilized rape as a primary method of genocide. 




Unfortunately, the former Yugoslavia and Rwandan wars were not the last of their kind. 

Rape has been widely utilized in the Sudanese Darfur area and the Congo in recent years. 

Studying war rape, feminist theorists have claimed that rape is not only utilized as part of genocide, but that rape constitutes genocide in and of itself. 




Rape that results in death is known as genocidal rape. 



It may be rape that is carried out repeatedly till the woman dies or rape that is carried out in such a manner that the woman dies. 

Rape with the intent to kill is often carried out using items other than the penis. 

Women who have been raped may commit suicide, infanticide, or just want to die. 




Genocidal rape is also systematic and pervasive, whether as part of a genocide campaign or as genocide itself. 



Rape committed against a group of individuals, such as an ethnic, cultural, or religious community. 

However, it is also against women, prompting many radical feminists to call genocide rape femicide — the systematic slaughter of women. 

Rape also complicates attempts to restore peace and security in the aftermath of a conflict. 

In this respect, the example of Rwanda is instructive. 


During the Rwandan genocide in 1994, 800,000 people were murdered in around 100 days — neighbors were often raped by their neighbors. 


Furthermore, even after the war ended, many rape victims were murdered before they could testify against their former friends and neighbors. 

Because they were afraid of retaliation, several women were hesitant to even file charges against their rapists. 



This, among other things, was a problem for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). 

Rape and torture were added to the list of crimes against humanity by both the ICTR and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and the ICTR also included forced pregnancy. 


In 1997, the accusations against JeanPaul Akayesu, Mayor of Taba, Rwanda, were amended to include "rape as a method of genocide," and a year later, he became the first individual ever prosecuted and convicted of genocide and rape as a crime against humanity. 


Such beliefs are a necessary part of the postwar healing process. 

However, there are certain additional issues that must be addressed. 

Some cultures, for example, have strict restrictions against any kind of sexual activity before to or after marriage. 

Women who were raped in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda were often shunned by their communities. 




Rape also rips communities apart, which is another way it is genocidal. 



Following such terrible events, especially for the benefit of rape victims and their children, postwar reparations must include appropriate consideration of how rape has harmed personal and community ties. 

Counseling should be given not just to the women who have been raped, but also to their families and the broader community, so that rape victims do not continue to suffer the agony of their ordeal from inside their own community. 




Feminists and other activists concerned about justice believe that rape offenders should face punishment as part of the postwar process. 



Appropriate tribunals would need to be set up inside armies, as well as at the national and international levels. 

This proposal would involve prosecutions for individual troops who committed rape, as well as trials for commanders in charge who stood by and did nothing to prevent rape or who incorporated rape in their war planning and strategy.


~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan

You may also want to read more about Feminism and Activism here.




Women And Child Victims Of Human Trafficking







The term "global market" generally refers to legitimate commerce between countries, however there is another kind of trade that has infected the global market: illicit people trafficking. 




This trade is known as "human trafficking," and it mainly affects women and children, as I noted in my discussion of the feminization of poverty. 



  • Women and girls are enlisted with the promise of a big monetary reward, sold into slavery by their parents or guardians, or kidnapped from their homes. 
  • Women are targeted by human traffickers to be exploited for prostitution, mail order brides, or domestic servitude. 
  • Children are targeted for the same reasons as adults, as well as for illegal adoption and recruitment as child soldiers. 
  • Humans may also be trafficked for the purpose of organ harvesting. 




Human trafficking, according to postcolonial feminists, is a kind of neocolonialism or a continuation of colonial pasts. 



People trafficking utilizes the human resources of these now-former colonies, while the colonialism that characterized so much of European history from the fourteenth through the twentieth century utilized the natural riches of the colonies. 

Global feminists examine the causes of human trafficking and female exploitation and propose a number of solutions to protect women and girls from being trafficked. 

They also provide specific suggestions for prosecuting human traffickers and rehabilitating and reintegrating women into non-exploitative societies. 




Global feminists argue that, in addition to practical steps such as providing alternative sources of income for women and legal prosecution of traffickers, there must be: 


(1) explicit condemnation of human trafficking as a human rights violation by the UN and other regional and international governing bodies; 

(2) social and cultural transformations. 


When some people are exploited as things for the enjoyment of others, all people are degraded. 

The first of these stages has already begun. 




Both the United Nations and the European Union have particular laws, as well as offices and specialized people, to combat human trafficking. 



Despite this, shady travel agencies continue to arrange "sex holidays" and promote the possibility of having sex with a virgin or an underage girl. 

Clients may even do activities that are prohibited in their own countries, according to travel brochures. 

A societal and cultural shift that appreciates all women for who they are is taking longer. 

Even in nations where women seem to be the most free, there is still enough oppression or dominance that certain women – particularly impoverished women – are susceptible. 

Of course, various schools of feminist thinking would suggest different methods for altering the dominance ideology and achieving a more equal situation for women. 




Marxist and socialist feminists may emphasize the necessity for decent-paying employment and other social system changes to keep women out of poverty – and to prevent huge wealth inequalities. 



Liberal feminists may argue that the legal measures put in place to prevent human trafficking and punish traffickers are sufficient to bring about a societal shift in how we think about women. 

Some radical feminists may even argue that correctly applied severe forms of punishment for traffickers, such as castration, would not only discourage future would-be traffickers, but would also have considerable symbolic significance. 

Liberation has always been seen by feminists as more than an individualized goal. 

It is insufficient that just a few women can "succeed." Human trafficking highlights the need of broadening the definition of freedom. 




Human trafficking is an issue that combines race, class, and gender oppression. 



However, when other people are bought and sold for their sexual services, bodies, or body parts, all people are degraded. 

We become simple things, and we submit ourselves to the same destiny by treating others as objects. 

Furthermore, since human trafficking is so common, we are all responsible in some manner. 

While we may not actively participate in human trafficking, we indirectly condone it when we fail to prevent the commercialization of others. 

Pornography and prostitution, as well as the exploitation of women as sex objects in advertisements, are lesser kinds of human trafficking, according to certain radical feminists. 

If they are correct, human trafficking is an issue in every town. 





Recognizing our linkages may lead to coalitional politics, as women and men from all walks of life battle the same issue from various perspectives. 



In Thailand, mothers may discover methods to thwart recruiters who visit their homes. 

In Thailand, professional women and men may attempt to educate the girls and families that are most susceptible to recruiters. 

Young and elderly women might combine their resources and skills to form a weaving cooperative, which could give families with the financial stability they need to avoid having to sell a daughter into slavery. 




Women in other countries may help by pushing vigorously government measures to punish human traffickers. 



Other women from other countries could help in similar ways, such as providing start-up funding for the co-ops, researching the effects of small businesses on traffickers' recruitment capabilities, and scrutinizing their national ideologies to uncover implicit ways those ideologies condone sexism and exploitation. 

Although some collaboration among these initiatives is beneficial, collaboration and coordination are not always feasible or desired. 

The last part of this chapter looks at some of the opportunities and challenges that coalitional politics or global feminist political solidarity provide. 




Another issue with human trafficking is how to rehabilitate children and adults if and when they are rescued from human trafficking enslavement. 



It's frequently tough to reintegrate them into their native communities. 


Again, cultural norms are a major impediment. 

When recruiters visit a Thai hamlet, for example, they are drawn to the community because of its poverty. They entice females away with the promise of regular employment at a high salary performing domestic chores. 

But it isn't always, or even generally, the females who are deceived – and it isn't always a question of deceit. In certain cases, parents and guardians may sell their daughters or female charges into indentured servitude or sex slavery. 

These guardians may even return a girl to the recruiter or trafficker if she escapes and returns to her community. 

Despite the fact that I chose Thailand as an example, it is essential to remember that women are kidnapped from virtually every country, including affluent Western nations. 

Because she is no longer pure, some cultures may shun or even murder a woman who returns to her society. 






Rehabilitation and reintegration into the community need the transformation of whole communities. 


To keep recruiters at away, the transition involves social and economic adjustments, as well as ideological shifts that may drastically alter men-women, parent-child interactions. 

The phrase "the personal is political" was popularized by second-wave feminists. 




Many activists have coined the phrase "think globally, act locally," which is embraced by global feminists. Human trafficking is an example of this expression in action. 



Theorists and activists must consider how their local behaviors affect women across the world. 

Feminists are compelled to acknowledge women's rights problems outside their local concerns when they think internationally. 

We can see that global feminism is a vital endeavor in this sense as well. 

It is critical of conventional Western feminisms that fail to recognize the day-to-day challenges of women throughout the globe as essential to feminist theory and practice, not only of social structures and global institutions that hurt women.


~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan

You may also want to read more about Feminism and Activism here.




Organized Global Feminist Coalition And Care Networks.







Global feminists go even farther by examining global care networks. 




A worldwide care chain is a network of carers linked by contractual ties. 



A care chain is established when a rich First World lady employs a poor woman from another country to come to her house and care for her children. 

However, the chain may go on for a long time. 

The impoverished lady may have abandoned her own children in her own country. 

In such scenario, she may either employ another woman to care for her children (for even lesser pay) or depend on family members to take over her domestic and familial responsibilities. 

So, while a woman in the West can enjoy her relative freedom with the assistance of a domestic servant from a Third World country – and the domestic servant can earn more money than she could in her own country – the Third World domestic worker has had to give up something important: her motherly relationship with her own children. 




The contractual agreement between carers for the transfer of caring services from one person to another is one element of this relationship. 



This is sometimes set out in great detail in a service contract. 

At other times, it's a handshake that seals the deal. 

Furthermore, caregiving is seldom a nine-to-five profession, with certain hours requiring much more effort than others. 

If the hours and pay of the hired caregiver are not specified in the work contract, the hired caregiver may be exploited. 




Employers and carers may also try to develop a pleasant (caring) relationship with one other, whether or not there is a formal contract in place. 



While such a connection may be beneficial in terms of facilitating cultural interchange, it can also be abused if the employer expects certain things from a friend that would not be expected of an employee. 

The employee is exploited, for example, when employers use social connections to urge caregivers to be available at the last minute or during planned off-duty hours. 

The domestic worker and the employer are never on an equal footing in their relationship, and pretending to be friends, which is based on equality, only serves to disadvantage the worker. 

The employer has control over the employee in terms of the salary that is paid, as well as the employee's immigrant status, language difficulties, distance from home country, cultural and family isolation, and general vulnerability. 




Care is another component of global care networks. 



Caregivers often form close bonds with the people they look after. 

However, when a caregiver has left her own children behind in her native country, she is unable to show her love for them on a regular basis. 

This isn't to imply she doesn't care about them or that the kid she looks after is more important to her than her own children (although both of those might be the case in any given situation). 

The argument is that demonstrating concern for one's own children becomes much more difficult when they are separated by national boundaries, seas, or continents. 

This reality may cause us to reconsider what constitutes care or to condemn global care networks for depriving some impoverished children of their moms' affection so that rich women may work outside the house or have more leisure time free of domestic obligations. 

The third thing to consider regarding global care networks is that they often depend on or perpetuate gender labor divides. 




Gender divisions of work may even be used in relationships between affluent employers. 



Frequently, a rich family looking to employ a domestic worker or live-in caretaker delegates the hiring and administration of that domestic worker to the woman, recruits only female candidates, and expects all family members to behave in typically feminine ways (quiet, nurturing, and attentive, but also deferential, submissive, and passive). 

Any issues that arise as a result of the female's failure to employ an appropriate caretaker for ‘her' children, her incapacity to be a ‘proper mother,' or just the gendered assumption that all matters pertaining to children fall to the woman, would be her duty. 




Caregivers often leave their native nation in search of better pay, exposure to or adventure in a new culture, or to avoid being sold into slavery by family members. 



In other cases, the female caregiver already has a college degree and is a qualified professional. 

Employers are drawn to such caregivers for a variety of reasons, including what Joan Tronto refers to as "competitive mothering." Employers that hire a caregiver with a different profession or a college degree essentially receive the advantage of those talents in their children's education and early training while just paying for the care. 




Finally, global care networks span the globe. 



They bring women from all over the world together, but that togetherness isn't always desired. 

While global care chains may contribute to a generation of affluent children growing up with an understanding of a culture and language other than their own, such understanding comes at a cost. 

Not only will these young people grow up believing that they can pay others to do their dirty labor (such as cleaning up vomit and dirty diapers) and nurturing work for them, but they may also think that other women's children are less valuable than their own.



~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan

You may also want to read more about Feminism and Activism here.




Feminism That Is Post-Colonial, Transnational, And Global.






Feminist thought has grown increasingly international, much as commerce, technology, communication, and politics have. 

 


For feminist theory, globalization presents both problems and opportunities. 



Meetings of cultures are always educational, even if they may be confrontational at times. 

As feminism becomes more global, feminists must strive to balance efforts to advocate for all women with tolerance for and understanding of cultural diversity. 

Because of strongly entrenched ideas and practices regarding women and their position in certain cultures, reconciliation is often difficult. 

When critiquing cultures other than their own, feminists must use caution, yet this is one of the responsibilities of global feminism. 

But, more importantly, criticism is never enough. 




Global feminism aims to strengthen bonds amongst women all over the globe via shared political commitments to social change. 



Susan Moller Okin once said that, just as academic feminists and academic feminist theory began to emphasize women's differences, as we saw with third wave feminism, women's activists all over the globe began to seek links between women. 

These activists saw connections among women and parallels in oppression as a foundation for coalitional politics to advocate for all women's human rights. 

Global feminists recognize women's diversity in terms of class, culture, religion, and ethnicity, but also identify common ground for political action. 



This is coalitional politics at its finest. 



Women all around the globe, according to Okin, need assistance from Western feminists and the international community as a whole. 

A global feminism must be capable of both identifying grounds for collective action to protect women's human rights and condemning damaging cultural practices, even within one's own society. 

But, more significantly, global feminism and transnational feminism deconstruct the traditional aid trajectory, warning against models or ideas that place the ‘two-thirds world' in need of help from the ‘one-third world.' These theories ignore the agency and power of women and men in underdeveloped countries. 

The phrases "two-thirds world" and "one-third world" clearly depict the relationship between those who "have" and those who "don't." Industrialized nations are home to just a small percentage of the world's population. 





The Global South, often known as the Third World or less developed nations, is home to two-thirds of the world's population. 



However, these words are divisive. 

In the middle of first-world grandeur, one may live in "third-world circumstances." Furthermore, using the term "developed" to describe industrialization implies a uniquely Western concept of development. 

For these reasons, transnational and global feminists and other activists working for a more equitable distribution of the world's resources sometimes use the one-third/two-third terminology, or use other terminology with political consciousness, infusing new meaning into old concepts such as "Third World." 




Building connections between feminist and other women's organizations is a political effort that requires no shared experience or identity. 




Human rights, coalition or solidarity, and empowerment are key ideas in global feminist philosophy. 

Human rights are everyone's fundamental rights, and they typically contain both positive and negative rights. 


Positive rights are entitlements to something, such as the right to leisure time, a good job, a fair pay, and safe working conditions. 

Negative rights are safeguards such as the right not to have one's property seized by the state unfairly or arbitrarily, the right to practice one's religion freely as long as it does not infringe on others' fundamental rights, and the right not to be tortured. 




Solidarity is defined as a group of individuals coming together to achieve a shared objective. 



It necessitates commitments to both the objective and to those who share that commitment. 

Coalitions, in a similar manner, are linkages between and among individuals or organizations for political purposes. 

These ideas are used by global feminists to show the links between women's organizations beyond country boundaries and language barriers. 

They demonstrate the good force that comes from collaborating for a shared goal, even if ideological disagreements exist. 



In feminist theory, empowerment refers to a person's or a group's recognition of their own power. 



This is the ability to change oneself or a group, and it often extends to changing the lives of others, social institutions, and society as a whole. 

When individuals feel oppressed, they often fail to see their own strength. 

The process of emancipation is also a process of empowerment, as it frees oneself from the shackles that prevent one from recognizing and acting on one's own strength. 



Global feminism examines problems that impact women across the world or from a global standpoint. 



That is, certain problems, such as sex and gender-based harassment and violence, seem to impact women all over the globe. 

Consumption, for example, necessitates a global view with a female awareness. 

Third-wave feminists believe that buying and selling goods is a political act. 

By examining the impact of purchases on women and children all across the world, global feminists make that political goal worldwide. 

Human rights, as I have said, are one of the most important aspects of global feminism. 



The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) of the United Nations is the most comprehensive and generally recognized statement of human rights, although it is far from universal in reality. 



The paper has piqued the attention of many feminists across the world. 

They point out that many societies still do not see women as fully human, much alone legal people deserving of protection. 

The declaration itself makes just a passing reference to gender and makes no mention of sex-based human rights abuses. 

Global feminists propose particular methods for extending women's human rights, including as gaining full legal status for women and amending existing human rights standards to account for sex and gender-based abuses. 




The terms "global feminism" and "transnational feminism" are often used interchangeably. 



Nonetheless, there is a clear distinction between the two. 

Feminism that crosses national boundaries is known as transnational feminism. 

It does not, however, have to address global issues, though it may do so. 

When women in a developed country collaborate with women in a developing country to provide opportunities for women and exchange information and expertise, this is an example of transnational feminism. 

For example, Norwegian women's organizations have collaborated with Thai women's organizations to attempt to stop the flow of human trafficking from Thailand to Norway. 

They do this in a variety of ways, including providing grants to university women's centers, providing loans to women's co-operatives to help them support and sustain alternative sources of income, and funding the establishment of programs to educate people about the true intentions of recruiters who come to villages looking for domestic workers for the city. 



However, international feminism cannot be a one-way street. 



Thailand's women's organizations must likewise strive to educate Norwegian women's groups. 

They must explain why certain women are more susceptible to trafficking than others due to cultural traditions and customs, as well as what kinds of alternatives will make a difference in the lives of impoverished women. 

Furthermore, whether from universities or villages, Thai women encourage Norwegian women to solve the issue of human trafficking by focusing on traffickers and consumers, johns, or those who book sex holidays in Thailand or send for mail order brides from Southeast Asia. 


In other words, Norway's task is to investigate the reasons of human trafficking from the demand side. 

This example emphasizes the importance of women working together in the fight for human rights and women's rights beyond national boundaries. 

However, cultural norms, language obstacles, and government regulations often obstruct women's organizations' capacity to collaborate. 




Global and transnational feminisms strive to respect cultures and national sovereignty while challenging sexist aspects of both. 



It's not always simple to walk this line. Often, one must first address issues in one's own nation before being trusted by women's organizations in another country. 

If the United States' policies have a direct and negative effect on women in El Salvador, for example, women's organizations in the United States must alter US government policy before they can fully engage in social change with women in El Salvador. 

Trust, as well as bravery and honesty, are on the line. 

Just as one must face one's own sexism before condemning the sexism of others on a personal level, one must confront those factors in one's country that lead to sexist discrimination or violence before or while criticizing others. 



Postcolonial feminism and Third World feminism are two more approaches to feminism with issues and followers that transcend borders or span the world. 


Insofar as they pay attention to the issues and variety of race, class, culture, country, ethnicity, and religion, as well as sex, they have a lot in common with global feminism and transnational feminism. 

In that sense, these feminisms are often lumped together or referred to in the same way. 




Third-world feminism has its own set of theoretical features. 



Many of the issues that less developed nations face may be traced back to colonial history, according to postcolonial feminism. 


Colonialism robbed not just of natural riches, but also of civilizations, educational systems, racial and gender relations ideas, and languages. 

Within this framework, postcolonial feminism examines sexist ideas and behaviors. 


Postcolonial feminists come in all shapes and sizes. 

They might live in one of the former colonies, Europe, or America. 

They may be descendants of colonists or colonized. 

Regardless, the history of colonialism and its long-term consequences serves as their analytical framework. 


Of course, colonialism did not affect every colony in the same manner. 

Imperialist governments handled the peoples of the countries they conquered in a variety of ways. 

This range of experience is also essential when considering postcolonial feminism. 



Many postcolonial feminists detect traces of colonialism in other feminists' universalizing statements. 



When first and second wave feminists, for example, argued based on oppression in women's common experience, they disregarded or missed the many ways in which women did not and do not share comparable experiences. 

Some feminist schools of thought and initiatives, according to postcolonial feminists, replicate dominant relations or reinscribe oppressive identities. 

When feminists impose Western liberation ideals on the two-thirds globe, they are engaging in a kind of neocolonialism that replicates colonialism's historical experience by attempting to make the "colony" more like them. 




Although political takeover of land as a form of colonialism is mostly a thing of the past, postcolonial theorists are targeting a new kind of colonialism. 



Through business methods, hegemonic culture, worker exploitation, and the replacement of traditional crafts, multinational companies and transnational enterprises, mainly based in Western countries, bring their own colonial impact. 

Unlike traditional forms of colonialism, which involved the colonizer assuming the privilege of ruling in the colony, neocolonialism rules indirectly through the power it creates and enjoys by bringing manufacturing jobs to a region or providing consumer goods to a people – often Western-inspired consumer goods. 




Old-style colonialism often murdered or dispossessed indigenous peoples; new-style colonialism impoverishes countries by inundating them with Western values, goods, or aspirations. 



When sexist oppression exists, both types of colonialism become apparent feminist issues, but postcolonial feminists believe that there are significant links between sexism and racism, colonialism, classism, heterosexism, ecological injustice, and other kinds of oppression. 

Despite the fact that postcolonial feminist liberation tactics involve recognizing variations across peoples and experiences, oppression analyses may be grouped together under the same umbrella structure. 

They highlight that oppressed peoples' identities and experiences are shaped by their history of colonialism and oppression, and that various kinds of oppression often overlap to influence social life. 




Third World feminists, in a similar spirit, fight racism, sexism, colonialism, and imperialism by stressing strength and resistance in the face of dominant culture. 



Third World feminists identify their places as ‘Third World' to highlight the circumstances of poverty, exploitation, and marginalization that may be experienced anywhere one lives, regardless of wealth or poverty. 

The term "Third World" comes from a colonial era, but it has been adopted by feminists and other activists to express political solidarity in the face of injustice. 

One important aspect of this resistance is the rejection of colonial history produced from the imperialist colonizer's point of view. 



Third-world feminists, on the other hand, propose rewriting history from the point of view and experience of colonial peoples. 


This gives history more nuance and avoids the generalizations of previous imperialists. 

Furthermore, Third World feminists lead philosophy by examining the particular struggles of survival in the daily lives of colonial and previously colonized peoples. 

Both postcolonial and Third World feminists believe that the only way to end women's oppression is for individuals and peoples to be free to create their own futures in light of their repressed histories. 

They will require independence from dominating cultures as well as imperialist countries in order to accomplish so. 



Humans create resistance communities on a daily basis, uniting them in fights for human dignity and opposition to oppressive powers. 



Human dignity necessitates economic and political self-determination, as any human rights campaigner would argue. 

Breaking away from dominant culture's imperialist influences is critical to such efforts. 

Writing is one tangible technique for resistance, in addition to those used in day-to-day survival attempts and more overt efforts for social and political change. 



Personal narrative, or creating one's own tale, has been utilized by feminists of all stripes to uncover one's own subjectivity and express agency in the face of oppressive circumstances. 



Writing is used by Third World and postcolonial feminists to claim the memory of cherished cultural traditions, colonized and brutal past, and family honor. 

In their attempts to promote women's rights and fight sexist or patriarchal institutions throughout the world, global, transnational, postcolonial, and Third World feminists address a variety of problems. 



Examining problems as linked and mutually reinforcing is an essential aspect of global feminist thought. 



In order to address the feminization of poverty, for example, problems of race and class must be addressed both locally and globally, as well as the gendered elements of poverty. 

Other problems, such as human trafficking or rape in war, may also lead to feminization of poverty and vice versa. 



The following sections address some of these problems and demonstrate the sophisticated analysis required for global women's emancipation. 





THE FOURTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN, BEIJING PLATFORM FOR ACTION, PARAGRAPH 17.

 


‘Absolute poverty and feminization of poverty, unemployment, increasing environmental fragility, ongoing violence against women, and the widespread exclusion of half of humanity from institutions of power and governance highlight the need to continue the search for development, peace, and security, as well as ways to ensure people-centered sustainable development. 

The involvement and leadership of the female half of humankind is critical to the search's success. 

Only a new era of international cooperation between governments and peoples based on a spirit of partnership, an equitable international social and economic environment, and a radical transformation of women and men's relationship to one of full and equal partnership will enable the world to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.'


~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan

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